This report investigates family businesses in the UK and focuses on their incidence,
industrial and geographical context and their governance and performance relative to non-family
businesses. The sample includes near population UK data for the period 2007 to 2009
of privately held incorporated firms (excluding listed/quoted firms) and analyses around 3
million firm-year observations. The report compares and contrasts family businesses with
non-family businesses with reference to governance and performance during the current
recession. Family businesses that are structured with 'family trusts/settlements' are considered
as an important sub-sample of family businesses in the report. The analysis highlights
important differences between family and non-family firms across a number of dimensions of
governance and firm performance
